


We need to go to London

by PrincessAmericaChavez



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: M/M, Multi, Post-Season/Series 02, Reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-10-28 23:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10841505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmericaChavez/pseuds/PrincessAmericaChavez
Summary: [Post sense8 season 2] Lito can't hide the truth anymore. Not now that they are at war.





	1. No ambulance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No ambulance! No ambulance!” Lito keeps struggling to say as Hernando carries him to the bedroom. “We need to go to London!”

“No ambulance! No ambulance!” Lito keeps struggling to say as Hernando carries him to the bedroom. “We need to go to London!”

Dani is standing next to the bed, the phone in her shaking hands. She looks close to tears as she presses the buttons. 

“No! No! We have to go to London!” Lito shouts, breaking free from Hernando’s arms to grab the phone and throw it away before she can make the call.

“Lito! What are you talking about! You need a doctor!” Hernando is at the edge of his wits here. He tries to make a compelling argument for himself, to convince his stubborn boyfriend, but he can barely think anything past the moment he saw him laying there on the floor covered in blood

“No, no,” Lito insists as he sits down on the bed. “We need to go to London.”

“Why, Lito? Why?” Daniela snaps, still shaking. 

“I’ll explain everything, but we need to go to London.”

“We are not going to fucking London!” Hernando yells, worry mixed with anger that dies down when he sees Lito curl into himself. First, he thinks he shouldn’t have yelled. Then, he notices he’s weeping. 

“We need to go. We need to go. I need to go now.”

Hernando and Dani share a worried look. Whatever is happening to Lito is bad, it’s very bad. His brain is racing in search for an answer. A concussion? An anxiety breakdown? Cancer? No. No, it can’t be that. He can’t even consider the option. 

“Ambulance,” he whispers. Dani nods. 

“No, no! I said no!” Lito jumps to his feet suddenly, pointing at Dani. His face is still covered in blood and his eyes are as intense as Hernando has ever seen. He looks like a crazy character out of his movies. “If you call that ambulance,” he says gravely, “you’ll be killing me. All of us.”

“Us? Lito, you’re paranoid, you need help-”

“No, they need my help,” Lito says. It’s like he’s not even talking to them anymore. He moves to the closet and starts pulling clothes out carelessly. 

“Lito! Lito! You need a doctor! You need to go to the hospital!”

“I SAID NO!” This time Lito’s voice is so forceful that, from the corner of his eye, Hernando sees Dani flinch. “That’s how they get you. That’s how they got Nomi, and Riley. And now Wolfie-”

“What are you talking about?” Daniela asks, in the verge of tears. 

Lito looks at them both. His face breaks in something similar to shame. 

“I will explain,” he says more gently, tears falling down his face. He looks as terrified as them, maybe more. “I promise. I will tell you everything, but we have to go now. It’s not about me… there are other lives… they need me… Please, family, I know it sounds crazy, but I’m gonna need you to believe me. I need you.” 

Hernando and Dani share one more look. Then run to make their bags. Wherever Lito is going, he’s not going without them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just kept thinking about how horrible it must have been for Hernando and Dani to see Lito like that and about everything he's gonna have to explain and the time jump in the episode didn't give me any of this so I'm gonna write it. Let me know if you guys want me to keep exploring this storyline.


	2. Of Lovers and Fighters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Should I tell them?" Lito whispers. 
> 
> Hernando jumps a little, looks at him with curiosity. Lito can feel how he and Dani share a look. 
> 
> "Do you trust them?" Sun asks. 
> 
> "With my life."

It's been hours since the last time Hernando managed to get more than two words out of Lito. He watches him carefully, scared that he'll have another seizure. What he sees, instead, is a behavior he had already noticed months ago. He looks grim, stern, unlike him. At times, it's like he's not there at all. He's not sitting in the cab, or the airport's waiting room, his mind is a million miles away, somewhere Hernando can't reach. And then, he wakes up as they call for the passengers to board the plain, blinking as if he'd just woken up from a dream. 

"That is us," he tells them, before going to stand on the line. Suddenly, he turns around and his eyes are more present than ever, still grim and unsettling. "Family, I can not ask you to do this."

"What?" Daniela arches her eyebrows. 

"This... It's... It's complicated. I don't want to put you in danger," he says, looking down. 

"Danger?" Hernando finds himself repeating.

How can Lito be in danger? He's a lover, not a fighter. At first, he thought this was about some kind of sickness that Lito wouldn't tell him about, because the seizures and the grim silences and sudden urge to go to London all point to it. Now, all he can think about is "drugs". Could he be in some trouble with dangerous people? Is this all about leaving the country? God, what has Lito gotten himself into?

"Lito, you and Hernando have protected me so much," Daniela says, grabbing their hands. Oh, that's right. Hernando didn't remember that, but now he thinks back to Lito's bloodied face and bruised knuckles. "You fought for me when no one else would," Dani continues. "Whatever this is, we are not leaving you alone."

Slowly, Lito raises his head. Behind his dark eye lashes, Hernando recognizes a storm in his eyes. Sadness, worry, fear, all mixed with a growing hope. When Lito's eyes meet his, they are filled with held back tears. Every trace of anger and doubt in Hernando wash out the moment he sees his face. He realizes that no matter what this big truth is, what the lies and the secrets are about, none of that will make a difference in what he feels for this man. 

"I love you," he says, holding Lito's face gently. "Wherever you're going, I'm going." 

* * *

Once the plane takes off, there is no turning back. Lito can't help but doubt whether he made the right choice, letting them tag along. He thinks about Nomi, who brought Amanita and Bug with her, wonders if this is the same even if Hernando and Daniela are not expert hacker criminals. Hell, he's not even sure what  _he_ is going to contribute to this endeavor. He always feels out of place, terrified by situations that his other selves face without so much as flinching. He's not smart, like Nomi or Kala. He's not a fighter, like Will, Sun and Wolfgang. He's got no skills to match Capheus nor Riley's connections. All he can do is bullshit his way through life, as he has always done. 

"Stop doubting yourself," Sun says. She's sitting next to Daniela, on the lateral row of the plane. She's wearing a big pair of glasses and a bright yellow sweater. It makes her look like a disney cartoon character. A scary disney cartoon character that could kick his ass without breaking a sweat. 

Before he answers, Lito visits her. He finds himself sitting in another plane. Sun's on her way too. 

"That is easy for you to say," he sighs with a pout. 

"We are all scared," Sun replies, quietly, "but we are not alone."

Lito finds himself back at his own plane, sitting between Hernando and Daniela. 

"We have a family worth fighting for," Sun says, looking at them.

"Should I tell them?" Lito whispers. 

Hernando jumps a little, looks at him with curiosity. Lito can feel how he and Dani share a look. 

"Do you trust them?" Sun asks. 

"With my life."

"We will protect them," she promises. Suddenly, the rest of the cluster, except Wolfgang, is here. He finds himself missing the german's presence. If he could look into his eyes right now for reassurance, it will all feel so much easier. With him, he feels stronger than he's ever been. 

"The more they know, the better they can react if something happens," Will points out. 

"Alright."

"Lito, who are you talking to?" Daniela is the one that finally asks. He's well aware that he looks crazy right now, like he's talking alone. Hell, he's still not entirely sure he's not crazy, but he guesses they'll find out once they get to London. 

"Is it safe?" he asks, looking up at Will who is already glancing around the plane.

"Few people and most are sleeping. You're good."

Lito nods. He takes in a deep breath, like he's preparing for an audition. He can feel their eyes on him, their tension, their worry. He can also feel the cluster having his back. 

_Here we go._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes I'm sorry the full confession and subsequent discussion are coming until the next chapter!


	3. No more lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Okay, what I'm going to say will sound crazy. I know that. What I need is... I need you two to listen to me all the way before you say anything. Okay?"
> 
> They both nod. 
> 
> "Alright. Here it goes again."

Lito clears his throat.

Right now, Hernando is not sure what to expect. Lito is sitting between him and Dani and, for once, he wishes he wasn't so that he could share a look with her, to know if she's as worried as he is even if he already knows the answer. They are both in the same boat right now, completely lost and confused, drowning in worry. He should be used to this by now, he thinks. He's been living with Lito's drama for years, and far from hating it or 'putting up with it', he's loved every second of ups and downs by his side. Still, this is by far the craziest thing he's dealt with, and something about his boyfriend's face makes his stomach twist with a horrible feeling. 

"So," Lito says quietly, like he's sharing a big secret, "you know how you told me once that there are magical things in the world? Things you cannot explain or measure, like intuition, or love, or destiny."

Hernando nods, his eyes locked on him, trying to figure out where this is going.

"Well, one of those things has happened to me... Actually, I  _am_ one of those things." 

"Yes you are, Lito," Daniela smiles softly, grabbing his hand. 

"That's not what I mean," he says, shaking his head. "I'm not- What I am... It's not human, not exactly."

"Lito, my love, don't talk like that," Hernando frowns. After Sao Paulo he thought they'd gotten past this doubts. 

"You're not understanding, you're not understanding," Lito whimpers, covering his face with his hands. Over his head, Dani and Hernando manage to catch a quick glimpse of each other. Lito raises his head and looks at the empty space in the plane's hallway. "How do you do this?"

"Do what?" Hernando asks, eyes still on him. 

Lito closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. 

"Okay, what I'm going to say will sound crazy. I know that. What I need is... I need you two to listen to me all the way before you say anything. Okay?"

They both nod. 

"Alright. Here it goes again," Lito sighs. "What I am is called a sensate. We are people that are connected, in a especial way, all around the world. Our brains are just..." 

He seems to be looking for a word. He intertwines his fingers, forming a net. 

"Connected?" Dani asks, then covers her mouth apologetically. 

Hernando's brain starts running again. What is he talking about? An online community? A support group? 

"Yes. We are connected. We can talk with each other, we can visit, we can share experiences, skills, feelings. There is eight of us in our cluster, all over the world. We were born in the exact same moment."

"Wait, are you saying you have twins?" Hernando asks, confused. 

Lito shakes his head. "No, no. Look. It's a brain thing," he groans frustrated. He looks at the hallways again. "A little help, Nomi?"

"Nomi?"

"Nomi is one of us," Lito whispers. "She's better at explaining this. She's been doing research."

And suddenly, his whole demeanor changes. He sits straight, he relaxes his shoulders back, and when he looks at him, Hernando can't find a trace of the man he knows in his eyes. 

"Hi," he says, and even though his voice is the same there's a cadence there that Hernando can't recognize. He knows Lito so well, this is not something he's heard before. "I'm Nomi. I'm sorry, I know this must be super weird, but believe me we all went through it the first time too."

 _Oh, my god,_ Hernando thinks to himself, horrified,  _it's a multiple personality thing._

"It's kinda like an evolutionary thing," Lito (well, Nomi) goes on, "we come from a different branch of ancestors called the  _homo sensorium._ Basically we are like a pack. We can communicate, uh, telepathically, and we can share experiences all over the world, pretty much like Lito said."

"Lito, you're scaring me," Daniela says, her voice trembling.

And suddenly Lito is back there, his moves and his voice once again his own.

"No, Dani, please don't freak out," he says gently, grabbing her hands. 

"I- I- I- I don't know what to say," Hernando says. 

Lito turns around to face him. He's not sure what his boyfriend sees in his face, but whatever he sees can't be good because his face suddenly breaks. His eyes water and his jaw clenches. There is so much heartbreak there, Hernando wants nothing else than to hold him and kiss him, reassuring him whatever this is they will fix it together. He can't do that. He can't even move. Lito starts crying and he begs his own body desperately to react and do something. 

"I need a moment," Lito whispers, voice painful and heavy as he stands up. He shuffles out of the seats and stumbles down the hallway to the bathrooms.

Hernando's eyes follow him and only once he disappears does he look at Daniela. Her face reflects the same worry he feels burning his insides. 

"What's going on? What just happened?" She asks, clenching the arm rests of her seat. 

"I don't know," he admits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have other fics where this had gone smoothly. This is not one of them. I guess the post season 2 situation makes reveals a little complicated, and being stuck in a plane is not the best place to demonstrate you can channel Sun and kick ass or hack like Nomi. Guess it will take a little longer for this two to understand what is really going on.


	4. 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I didn’t even know what to say! I sounded crazy! They think I’m crazy! Hell, I think I’m crazy! Oh, god, am I?”
> 
> “A little,” Sun murmurs. 
> 
> “You’re not crazy,” Riley says at the same time.

The flight lasts hours, each of which feels like an eternity to Lito. He can only stay hidden in the bathroom for so long, and once back in his place he doesn’t say a single word. 

Meanwhile, across the ocean, he’s already in London, in Will and Riley’s improvised flat, rambling nonstop. 

“Stupid! So stupid! This was a terrible idea!” He goes on and on, pacing past the others. “I shouldn’t have said anything! I’m such an idiot!”

“Lito-“ Nomi tries to intervene, fruitlessly. 

“I didn’t even know what to say! I sounded crazy! They think I’m crazy! Hell, I think I’m crazy! Oh, god, am I?”

“A little,” Sun murmurs. 

“You’re not crazy,” Riley says at the same time. 

“I’m losing my mind. I can’t do this. This was a terrible idea. I shouldn’t have let them come. I shouldn’t be here. I-“

“This is not the time to discuss that,” Kala’s voice cuts him off. 

Lito freezes. Her voice, usually soft and sweet, sounds cold and hard. He looks at her and what he sees in her eyes _terrifies_ him. It’s not that he’s scared of her. He’s never been actually afraid of any of the cluster, not even Sun or Wolfgang though he knows what they are capable of. He trusts them all. No, it’s different. What he sees in Kala’s eyes is pain and anger, it’s a pain he’s terrified of himself. If Hernando was in Wolfgang’s place right now, he doesn’t think he’d be holding it together at all. 

“I’m sorry,” he sighs, looking down. 

A hand clasps his shoulder. He glances up just enough to confirm it’s Will who is giving him his best reassuring look.

“Everything will be alright,” he tells them all. “We will deal with it, like we always do. Right now, let’s focus on what we _can_ do.”

“Does everyone know the plan?”

For the next several hours, they discuss the plan, go through the details. Lito would be lying if he said he’s not absolutely terrified by the idea. Thank God he’s a great liar. He nods, with his jaw set, he agrees with everything, he pretends he’s the character of one of his movies. Once they are done and they each leave, he finds himself in the London airport with Nomi and Amanita. 

“You can’t keep avoiding them forever,” Nomi tells him. Lito never had siblings, but if he had an older sister, he likes to imagine she’d be a lot like her. “Lito,” she goes on, taking his hands, “Hernando and Daniela love you more than anything in the world. You just have to give them time.”

“I am afraid.”

“You don’t have to be,” she tells him, with a small smile. “They will understand.”

“It’s not that. It’s… what happened to Wolfgang. What if we can’t protect them?” 

Nomi blinks, sends a look towards Amanita, then back at him. “We will.”

When Lito finally returns to the plane, he’s grounded by the weight of two heads against his shoulders. He can feel Hernando and Daniela’s slow breathings as they sleep pressed against him. At some point, they both held his hands. He feels a pinch of guilt that he was too far away to notice or hold them back. He squeezes their fingers gently and closes his eyes. 

Kala’s dark and heartbroken eyes are the last thing he thinks of before falling asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one! 
> 
> Up next: The Sensates finally meet face to face :D


	5. Greetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hernando doesn't see a single familiar face in the crowd, but Lito seems to know where he's going. They follow closely. 
> 
> "Nomi!" Lito shouts suddenly, voice full of glee, and takes off running, leaving them a few feet behind. 
> 
> By the time they catch up, Lito's hugging a tall blonde woman, with so much enthusiasm her feet don't touch the floor.

"Baby, we're here!" Lito wakes him up, shaking his shoulder lightly. 

Hernando blinks himself awake, trying to catch up to whatever his lover is saying. Next to him, Daniela's not having a much easier time. Lito, on the other hand, is vibrating with energy. He's even a little put off by how excited he looks. He can still remember his brooding expression a few hours ago. Now this, he looks like a kid on Christmas morning. It manages to make him smile. Even through all the worry and confusion he's putting him through, Lito's happiness is sparking and bright, it makes his own chest swell. 

"Come on, baby, come on," Lito's bouncing on his heels as he waits for them to get themselves together and get out of the plane. 

They pass through the controls much faster than in their visit to the States a few months ago. He and Dani almost have to jog to keep up with Lito's accelerated pace. 

"Where are we going?" Dani asks, as they finally exit to the arrivals area. 

Hernando doesn't see a single familiar face in the crowd, but Lito seems to know where he's going. They follow closely. 

"Nomi!" Lito shouts suddenly, voice full of glee, and takes off running, leaving them a few feet behind. 

By the time they catch up, Lito's hugging a tall blonde woman, with so much enthusiasm her feet don't touch the floor. 

"Oh my god, Lito!" She laughs, hugging him back with the same enthusiasm. 

When they pull back from the hug, only slightly, they are both crying, full of happiness. They touch each other's faces with trembling hands, laughing of some secret inside joke. It is beautiful and pure and  _intimate._ Hernando and Daniela stand by their side, quiet and stiff. For the first time in a very very long time, Hernando feels like an outsider in his boyfriend's life, as if he was only part of the audience watching his movie.

Lito grabs Nomi's hand —Hernando  _assumes_ this is Nomi— and suddenly fixates his eyes on her finger, on the ring on it. 

"Oh my god!" Lito's scream is high pitched. "Oh my god! Oh my god!" He looks around until he finds the other girl, of beautiful dark skin and thick dreadlocks. "Amanita!" He laughs, hugging her too, lifting her off the floor and spinning around. "Oh my god, I'm so happy for you! How did I miss this!"

"Well, so much was going on..." Nomi mumbles. 

As soon as Lito lets Amanita down, someone's shaking his hand vigorously. 

"Mister Rodriguez, it''s such a great pleasure. I'm your buggest- I mean, your  _biggest_ fan. When Nomi told me who you were, I couldn't believe this, I've watched all your movies and-"

He keeps rambling on. The two girls just chuckle. Lito sends Hernando an apologetic look. 

"Hi, it's good to officially meet you," Nomi says, approaching them, stretching a hand out. 

"Hello," Hernando says, shaking her hand. "I'm Hernando, and this is Daniela."

"Yeah, I know," she sends him a shy smile, "we talked in the plane, remember?"

He freezes, glances at Dani who's not making a better job at hiding shock from her own face. 

"What- How-"

"Like I said, it's complicated," she says softly, "this might not be the place to talk about this."

"Capheus!" Lito is jumping again all of the sudden, running to hug a man who greets him with just as much excitement. They start talking quickly, one over the other. Hernando tries to listen in, to see if he can piece something together, but it's all a mess. Lito's speaking a language he's never heard before, he and Capheus switch in and out of it and Spanish. And then Nomi joins in and English is thrown into the mix. 

"Do you understand what is going on?" Daniela whispers in his ear. 

"I... have no idea," Hernando admits, readjusting his glasses over the bridge of his nose. His eyes are locked on Lito, who doesn't even seem  _aware_ of what he's doing. 

"Sun!" Someone exclaims. 

A small Korean woman stands next to the group. She's so small, for a second Hernando fears that Lito will crush her when he hugs her. Instead, Lito doubts right before lunging into the hug and instead stands in front of her with his arms open. Reluctantly, she lets herself be hugged. They all join in. 

"It's like a Benetton photoshoot," Daniela murmurs. 

"Like the Tower of Babel," Hernando says, mostly to himself. 

"Oh, man, yeah," the man that'd introduced himself as Bug earlier drawls next to them, making them both jump startled, "we _sapiens_ are no longer the dominant species here."

"Guys, guys, guys," Lito says, bringing the others over, "come meet the love of my life! Meet my family!"

And then there's Spanish, fluent and perfect, all around him. All this people greet them as if they were old friends, as if they actually  _knew_ them. All they can both do is go along with it. 

"Where's Kala?" Lito asks.

Their voices die all at once, as if a shadow fell on all of them at the very same time. 

"She went ahead to Will and Riley's to get everything ready."

"We should get moving," Sun nods in perfect English. 

"But first, Kala gave me this," Nomi says, pulling out a flask full of black pills. 

"Do we have to?" Lito frowns. 

"Yes. For safety."

With a heavy sigh, he takes a pill. Hernando watches, anxious. 

"What is that?" He asks, grabbing his hand before he can eat it. "Lito, is that medicine? What is going on?"

"It's just for protection," Lito says, but his frown is too deep and his eyes too full of worry for Hernando to buy it. What the hell is he doing? Having sudden seizures, talking to strangers, taking drugs in the middle of an airport?

"Protection from  _what?"_ He asks, skeptical. 

"Not what.  _Who,"_ Sun says, popping her own pill into her mouth.

There's something almost mournful about the way they take the little black pills, as if the cost was very high, as if it was killing a part of them, they share long looks with each other as they take them. They all take them. Even Lito, when Hernando is distracted worrying. 

"Uh, do we have to take those too?" Daniela asks, with clear curiosity. 

"Nah, we're good," Amanita says, smiling at them with complicity. "Don't worry, this will all make sense later."

Hernando heavily doubts it. 


	6. So we are doing this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What's going on?" Hernando asks, in Spanish, talking only to Lito. 
> 
> "This is what we came to do," Lito replies, giving him a serious look. 
> 
> "And that is?" Daniela arches an eyebrow. 
> 
> Lito doesn't reply. He's not sure how much to say. 
> 
> Will hands him a gun. Hernando looks like his eyeballs are about to pop out of his skull. 
> 
> "Lito?" Daniela insists.

"So," Hernando says once all three of them are inside a cab. The others took their own, though Lito knows they're all taking bigger routes to distract anyone who might have followed them. 

"So," Daniela adds, next to Hernando, her sun glasses are pushed over her face though the clouds pretty much cover all the sun. 

"So," Lito agrees, side glancing at them. He's squished as small as he can be so that all three of them could fit in the back of the car. The idea of either of the three having to ride in the front alone just seemed too wrong. 

"This people are the ones you're... connected with?" Hernando asks slowly, every word carefully picked. Lito would be upset, if he didn't know that wariness is his lover's own way of showing care for the situation. He can see the gears turning inside his brain as he analyzes it like he does with every piece of art that crosses his way. 

"Yes," he replies, voice a bit hoarse. "Well, half of them."

"Half," Hernando repeats. 

"Yes, we are eight."

"And you had never met," Hernando says.

"Well," he shrugs, "not like this in person. To be honest, I'm so glad I was not losing my mind. For I while I thought I was going crazy."

"I think I'm going a little crazy," Daniela murmurs. "And you can, like, talk to all of them."

"Yes, all the time. We visit, we talk."

"In all their languages," she insists.

"What do you mean?"

They both give him that look, that 'you're going crazy' look, he was trying to avoid. 

"Lito, you were speaking like four different languages," Daniela says. Even through the sun glasses, he can feel her stare.

"I was?"

"You didn't realize," Hernando arches his eyebrows.

"I never thought about it," Lito admits, a little embarrassed. He probably  _should_ have, now that he sees it like that. "In my head it all sounds like Spanish."

"Oh, that was not Spanish," Daniela chuckles nervously. 

Lito is quiet. He's not sure how to reply. He can only begin to imagine how weird this is for them. What a freak he must look like in their eyes. 

"How long as this been going on?" Hernando asks.

Something about that question eases the pain in his chest. He believes it. Maybe he doesn't understand it yet, maybe he doesn't like it, but the way Hernando speaks lets him know he believes him, and that's more than he'd even hoped for. 

"A little over a year," he says, "when I was filming The Sins Of The Father."

"You called me about a crying Korean woman!" Hernando jumps, pointing at him, his eyes full of awe. 

"Sun," Lito smiles, "she's not too happy I told you about that."

The car stops. One glance at the old building they're at is all Lito needs to know they are in the right place. Hernando and Daniela look a bit more put off. He can't blame them. They were probably expecting a hotel. Part of him was too, but he has to remind himself time and time again of what is about to take place. 

"Come on," he props as he jumps off the car. 

"Lito, this place looks abandoned," Daniela says as they carry their bags up the stairs. 

"That is the point," he replies, a little more grimly than he intended. 

When they get to the room he's looking for, he knocks. It takes a couple seconds for the door to open, when it does it is in full swing. He suddenly has a gun pointed to his face. Hernando and Daniela raise their hands, both letting out little squeaks of fear. Lito smiles. 

"Will."

The cop sighs with relief, dropping his gun and sends all three of them a small apologetic look before telling them to come inside. 

Riley hugs him as soon as he is through the threshold. "I'm so glad to see you," she whispers. 

For the first time, he hears her english and the cadence of her accent.  _Damn blockers._

"You too," he replies, kissing the top of her head. 

Thank goodness for the english classes he hated growing up. Part of him reminds him Hollywood will require his English too, but that part is muted in the back of his head at the moment. Will puts a hand on his shoulder and gives it a soft squeeze. He knows Will is actually as much of a hugger as he is —he knows, actually, a lot more about him, like the way he kisses and the way he makes love and the way he fights and the way he suffers— but he lets it go by now with that small physical interaction. The air is too tense right now for anything else. Riley, on the other hand, goes on to hug Hernando and Dani, as if she'd known them her whole life. He thinks about the way he feels about Amanita, how he feels Nomi's love rippling through him too, affection for every inch of the girl who loves Nomi and all of them so wonderfully. He hopes the cluster feels the same way about his family. 

Kala catches his eye, from the corner of the room. She's wearing a floral shirt and her pretty dark hair is tied up in a ponytail, but her eyes are tired and dark, full of the same pain he saw there before. Cautiously, he approaches her. 

"About before," she says, in English too, not meeting his eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

He hates seeing her like this, so small and tired and worried. Before she can go on, he grabs her hand and pulls her into a tight hug. She hugs him back, small hands clenching his clothes, face buried against his chest. Lito kisses the top of her head softly. 

"We will find him," he promises.

It takes little time for the others to arrive. More greetings take place. Some are quiet, like Sun's little nod towards Will and Nomi's quick 'let's get down to business' hug; some are loud, like Capheus who speaks Swahili excitedly as he hugs Will, Riley and Kala, even though none of them can understand a word.  _Fucking blockers._ Hernando, Daniela and Lito wait, sitting on an old mattress. 

"Alright," Will says once they are all together, "if we're going to do this, we have to do it fast before Whispers gets any ideas and changes location."

"Did he just say 'Whispers'?" Lito hears Daniela murmur into Hernando's ear. 

"Does everyone know what they have to do?" Nomi checks. They all nod. They've been going through it for hours. Lito knows it by heart, as if it were a scene he was running lines for. Nomi starts handing the white uniforms. Will puts his inside a back pack. Lito gets up to put his along with Riley and Kala. 

"What's going on?" Hernando asks, in Spanish, talking only to Lito. 

"This is what we came to do," Lito replies, giving him a serious look. 

"And that is?" Daniela arches an eyebrow. 

Lito doesn't reply. He's not sure how much to say. 

Will hands him a gun. Hernando looks like his eyeballs are about to pop out of his skull. 

"Lito?" Daniela insists. 

"We are about to face some very bad people," he says. "We need to infiltrate a building and get one of them."

" _Get?"_ Hernando blinks. "As in,  _kidnap?"_

"Yes."

"Lito!" They both jump to their feet. He doesn't flinch. He can't let himself be scared right now, even if he's terrified, even if saying it out loud reminds him of how completely insane this is. 

"We need to."

"Why?!"

"They have one of us," he says. 

"Who has one of you? Why would they?" Daniela shakes her head in disbelief. 

The others are watching. Lito wants privacy, even if they don't understand what's being said. They can probably guess. He grabs Hernando and Daniela by the shoulders and pulls them gently towards a more separate room. 

"There is this organization," he tells them once they are alone, "they are big, we are not sure  _how much_ yet. They hunt down people like us."

"For what?" Hernando asks. 

"To kill us," Lito's voice is very quiet as he meets his lover's eyes, "for being... what we are."

"This is insane, Lito!" Daniela says, grabbing his hand. "Are you telling us you're going to go to them? To this people?"

"Yes. They have one of us. They have Wolfgang."

"But this- getting yourself killed is not the option," Daniela insists. 

Hernando's silence is nerve wrecking. 

"We can't give up on him," he says. "He's family. He's one of us. He's part of me," he tries to explain, but it sounds cheesy even if it is the truth, so he fishes for another explanation, one they might understand. "We owe him so much, Dani, all three of us. He's the one that helped me save you from Joaquin, he's the one that fought him."

Daniela covers her mouth with her hand in disbelief. Lito feels a touch of sadness, knowing from now on he will no longer be her hero, her savior, but it's worth it. 

"He's had my back so many times. He even let us in when they locked us out of our place last winter."

Ah, he can see realization dawn in both of them, piecing the things together. 

"He is my brother," he says, "he is my family just as much as you two are, and he would help me save either of you without even a second thought. He's the kind of man I wish I could be. I will not leave him alone."

Neither replies. He feels the urge to cry and throw a fit, but he won't allow himself to have yet another breakdown. Not when his cluster needs him. 

"I am sorry, I have to go. Be safe," he says before turning around. 

He's about to exit the room when Hernando finally speaks up. 

"Lito!" 

He turns around, slowly, afraid of what is to come. He still remembers the last time Hernando left him. He doesn't know if he could survive another heartbreak right now. 

"This... is insane," Hernando murmurs, walking to him, his beautiful intense eyes completely focused on him, "and we have a lot to talk about, but for that you have to come back." Hernando brings his hands up, holds his face ever so gently, his eyes tearful and watery. Lito remembers that look. It's the look he had when he found him in the bathroom floor. "Just, come back, baby. Please."

"Whatever happens today," Lito says, grabbing Hernando's face as well, willing himself to remember every single detail in case this is the last time he sees it, "just know you are the love of my life. Hernando, you have made me a better and braver man. And so, I must do this. I love you."

He presses a kiss to his lover's lips, slow and deep, but also short, fearing if he prolongs it he won't find the courage to let go. 

"Come back," is the last thing Hernando begs before he leaves, without looking back. 

 _In the end_ ,  _we will_ all be _judged by the courage of our hearts._ Hernando has recited that line to him a million times. He hopes that, if he does not return, his courage today will be enough for his greatest love to remember him proudly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not done with this fic yet!!! I will explore a bit of the mission's fallout and Hernando and Daniela coming to terms with all this, though probably won't go on to explore the 'how s3 could go' thing because that's way too long and I don't pretend to be as good at plot twists as the writers. I hope you're all enjoying the ride, though. Thank you for your comments, they've really brightened up my days and helped me keep writing this :)


	7. The wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What's going on?" Hernando asks, peeking over Bug's shoulder. 
> 
> "The show is about to start," Bug drawls with a smirk.

It's been hours and Hernando hasn't moved yet. Daniela watches him from the corner of her eyes, pretends to be busy checking her Instagram feed, but she knows where his mind is, right along with hers, with Lito, God knows where. 

The only other person in the room is Bug, who's monitoring like four different computers at the same time, eventually typing rapidly, then monitoring again. He's humming something under his breath, a theme song —she thinks— from Lito's movies. 

"How do you do it?" Hernando finally asks, springing to his feet. Daniela does the same, without even thinking. He's not talking to her, though. He's talking to Bug. 

The man turns around slowly, once he realices he's being talked to. He arches his eyebrows and lays back on the chair, cockily. 

"You know... years of practice... I've learnt from the best," he says, every phrase stretched slowly like a big epic sentence in a film, "but like most hackers, I am... self-taught."

"Not that," Hernando sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, right over where his glasses rest. "The waiting. How do you do the waiting?"

"Oh. Well," Bug shrugs, "guess they can take care of themselves. Being a superior race and all."

"Superior race?" Hernando laughs with disbelief, starts pacing around with his hands on his hips. He looks  _angry._ Cautiously, Daniela approaches him, but he stays away from her reach, too tense. 

"If you'd seen the shit I've seen them pull of..." Bug laughs. "Like the time we broke the Korean chick out of prison!" 

"Wait- you-"

"What?!" This time, Daniela has to join in on Hernando's disbelief. 

"It was  _epic!"_ The other man goes on with a wide smile. "And that was  _before_ I knew what was going on."

"How long have you known?" Daniela asks. 

"Few months."

She shoots Hernando a look. He won't say it, but she knows him well enough to know it hurts. The fact that Lito kept it away from them this long. He keeps calling them 'family' but even Nomi seems to trust this friend of hers more. 

"Cameras down in the interrogation room," Bug says suddenly, typing code away with his eyes on the screen. They approach him, but he's not talking to them. He's got an earpiece. "Tell pretty boy he can go in."

"What's going on?" Hernando asks, peeking over Bug's shoulder. 

"The show is about to start," Bug drawls with a smirk. 

On the screens they look attentively. There's a few gone completely dark, others show dark corridors in what looks a lot like a prison. On the other computer, there's a street. From a police car, Sun, Amanita, Nomi and Capheus get out. 

"How come Amanita gets to go with them?" Daniela asks, offended. Even if she has not clue what is going on, she's not happy that they had to stay behind. 

"Oh, she's been in this from the beginning," Bug shrugs, his eyes locked on the screens. "Saved Nomi from getting lobotomized."

Hernando sends him a wide-eyed look that goes completely ignored. 

"My angels don't go anywhere without each other," the man goes on. 

All three of them jump when Sun knocks out a man with a single blow. Dani is impressed, maybe a little turned on. 

"Wait. Wait. Where are they taking him? Is that the man they were after?" She asks. Hopeful. If that is it, Lito wasn't involved, nowhere to be seen. He's safe. 

"Just part of the package," the hacker says, pointing at the other screen. 

Hernando and Daniela freeze. They recognize the costume Lito was suiting up in before leaving. There's four people carrying a body bag. 

"Oh my god, is that a body?" Daniela asks, covering her mouth. 

Before she can get an answer, shit spins out of control. Someone, in the exact same outfit, starts shouting things she can't understand. Someone gets shot. She can't tell who it is, she can't tell if it's Lito. 

"Oh my god!" Hernando shouts as the white figure falls to the ground. 

Another one is brought to their knees. Then a third one is knocked unconscious. 

"What the fuck!" She cries out. 

She finally looks at Hernando. He's pale, shaking, eyes full with tears. He looks at her and she can see gut-wrenching fear tearing him apart. 

"Oh god, was that...?" She can't bring herself to say his name. She can't bring herself to ask the question. She desperately needs to know the answer. 

They see the white figures get out and inside a van. They are joined by the others. 

Bug gets a call, and they all jump when the phone breaks the heavy silence of the empty abandoned room. 

"Hello? Good. Got it. See you here, babe."

He hangs up, relaxes back on his chair. 

" _What?!"_ Hernando and Daniela shout at the exact same time. 

He jumps, as if he'd forgotten their presence.

"Oh. Yeah. All good. Everyone's good. Operation extraction was a...  _success."_

They still can't move. Can't react. They just saw someone die on that screen a couple minutes ago. 

Bug spins around on his chair, his arms folded against the back of his head. He gives them both a look. 

"I don't get what's got you so tense," he says. "This is mister Lito Rodriguez. He's a badass, of course he's good at thi-"

"He's an actor!!" Hernando shouts, every bit of his repressed anger poured into his voice. He pulls at his own hair, his eyes still full of tears that refuse to fall. "He's not- He's not this! He's just... He' just acts! It's not real! This can't be! This can't be real."

"But it is," Bug says, and though his drawl hasn't change something about his eyes is more serious. "Oh, darlings, welcome to the real world."


End file.
